


Unexpected

by ShariDeschain



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCeased (DC Comics), DCeased: Unkillables (DC Comics)
Genre: Alternative Universe - DCeased, Gen, Grief/Mourning, be warned: this is just the three of them crying, no plot only sorrow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:14:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23129881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShariDeschain/pseuds/ShariDeschain
Summary: It takes them almost three weeks to find and finally reach Damian.
Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Jason Todd & Damian Wayne
Comments: 8
Kudos: 201
Collections: COWT - Clash Of the Writing Titans/Chronicles Of Words and Trials





	Unexpected

It takes them almost three weeks to find and finally reach Damian, and when they do, when their eyes finally meet from one side of the room to the other, Jason feels this stupid, unexpected and overwhelming urge to start crying. He had not cried when he had to face the battered corpses of Bruce, Dick and Tim, he had not cried when he had to dug holes in the ground to bury them, he had not cried when he had to drag them like they were empty and broken things to get rid of, and he had perhaps felt a brief pinch in his nose when he had found himself standing in front of those makeshift graves, but _crying_ he had not.

But now he’s looking at this kid that’s always been too similar to Bruce for his own good and Jason’s peace of mind, this kid who had owned a piece of Dick's heart for so long it had become almost impossible not to associate one with the other, this kid who’s the only one who can understand the complexity of Jason’s relationship with Tim, the only one who knows how you can hate and hurt the people you love so deeply that you can no longer tell what is one thing and what is the other. This kid that looks up at him and then at Cassandra and can’t hide his own tears.

So Jason lets Cass go first. He lets her run to their brother and watches them as they hug, and a spark of amusement hits him when he notices they’re almost the same height now. He can’t hear what they’re saying, the wet whispers hidden against necks and shoulders, the lullaby of pain and regrets that he’s been singing in his own head since the very first day this shit’s happened. He still moves towards them, even if he does it in slow steps, almost reluctantly, not because he doesn’t want to share his sorrow, but because he knows that the very moment he reaches them, something will change: there’s going to be an end, and after the end a new beginning.

Jason doesn’t know if he’s ready for that, and yet Damian’s sobs hurt his heart too bad not to push him forward - always forward - and he’s heard Cass crying before, every night for a whole month, even if she did her best to hide it, but he’s never held her, never had the courage, never felt like it was in his rights. But now they’re all here, and pretending that they’re not mourning is not going to work anymore, and eventually all this grief has to go somewhere, they need to put it one place, let it crystallize, so that one day, maybe, it will hurt them a little less.

He learns that, even if Damian’s not that little anymore, he can still circle them both with his arms, and it’s weird to feel Damian’s soft hair against his cheek, it’s weird to feel how incredibly solid Cassandra’s body is - what with her looking like a doll and all of that - and most of all it’s weird to realize that he’s never held any of them in his arms before, he’s never shared his affection like this, he's never shown them how much he loves them, just like he's never shown it to Bruce and Dick and Tim and Barbara and Roy and who knows how many others who will never be able to find out now.

He cups the back of Damian’s neck with his hand and pulls the kid closer to him. He wants to tell him that he took care of their family, that they’re all resting next to each other in their home - a place where he hopes none of them will ever be forced to return to - but he’s crying too hard now, the words feel like stones trapped in his throat, and he’s not sure Damian would be able to hear him anyway because he’s crying even harder than Jason is.

There are so many wrong things in all of this. If Jason would’ve had the chance to choose which member of his family he would be holding right now, Damian and Cassandra probably wouldn't be here. And he knows it’s the same for them. Damian would’ve killed to have Dick and Bruce here. Cass had always been closer to Tim and Barbara than any of them. But it's the three of them who survived, the three of them who, ironically, have all already died once, only to find themselves alive at the end of the world, alone, except for each other.

Jason falls on his knees, exhausted, and Cass and Damian fall down with him, crashing on him in a mess of limbs and tears and a half choked laugh that sounds like his own. Their weight makes his bruised ribs hurt, but he doesn’t care, not really, because the important thing is that they don’t let go, they stay close, and their grip on him feels like a promise for a future that, in spite of everything, will still come, a future that they will have to face together and, because of that, it now seems just a little less terrifying.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the COWT #10 @ landedifandom, prompt "brotherly bond".


End file.
